Shoulders, Hips and Sneezes

Point-counterpoint: The rush when I push my body from back-bend to downward-facing dog, followed by the few days I spend sneezing, snorfling, sniffling and just generally feeling lousy. There's not much else to say other than I have a cold, along with everyone else in the universe. (The universe being restricted to my school, office and home. Oh, and those people sniffling on the train - yes, I hear you.)

I am struggling to achieve some kind of balance between work, studies and social life. I haven't had to in a while and I don't particularly enjoy the sensation of losing control. The last item is in fact necessary to my sanity.
When I (over) hear people talking about how they are already skipping sleeps and studying for hours I take the opportunity to renew my vows-of-sorts. The first and foremost being that studies will never, ever be more important than sleep. The second being that school is not life, it just gives me some tools with which to enjoy it.

This, by the way, is how I justify rolling out of bed at 6:15 every morning to get to my 8:30 class on time. If for no other reason than I like to get my learning out of the way in the morning I will continue to construct morning-centric schedules even if I do let loose the occational grumble.

I don't write as much when I'm sick. In fact, I think I'm going to construct a nest out of tea bags, tissues and Tylenol and hibernate for a while. It's better than discovering that my sneezes are the biological equivalent of shotguns...over and over again... in the office... where I'm trying to keep the sniffling and tissue pile to a minimum.

It didn't work.

Your truly,

The Sniffle Queen.

Reasons to Carry Change on Campus

I've been diligently packing my own lunches in an effort to save for exchange studies. There are days where my meals are somewhat sparse. It's days like these that I am most glad for the coins lying dormant in my wallet.

Reason One for carrying change on campus: SASS (an acronym I just coined) Student Associations Selling Snacks.
And what glorious snacks they are too. As I wandered along looking to find hot water for my packet oatmeal (yes, that's lunch), I happened to spy several people passing me bearing some kind of treat wrapped in a newspaper cone. I was not about to live in curiosity, I sought the source.
Minutes later I was the proud owner of three beautiful samosas, drizzled in sweet sauce (of some ambiguous red-brown colour) and wrapped in my very own newspaper cone. Such savoury delights beat packet oatmeal any day. I paused between classes to take in some sun and enjoy my meal. Never before have I been more glad for the Anthropology Student's Association, and for the tooney* sitting unspent in my wallet.

That might be the one and only reason I continue to carry change on campus. You never know when something delicious might be a few errant coins away. Oh, and it keeps me from buying subsidized food.

Did I mention I was going on exchange? I might have. Well, I am so ... surprise!  It's not for another year but there will be plenty to talk about until that point (and don't think I won't, my friends).

*For those not in the know: Tooney - Canadian coin valuing two Canadian Dollars. Also, it's two colours and has a Polar Bear on it.

Old Pictures

Have you ever chanced to look at the family photos of a stranger? Not the posed kind but rather those shots of everyday life that mean more than what you see on paper. In the albums of strangers the world is beautiful.

 

The pictures from my childhood are strange to me. It is hard to distinguish if my recollections are genuine or reconstructions based on pictures.

The girl in the picture is a stranger even though I know she is me.

Devious, or How I Accomplish Goals

As you could probably tell from my unfinished projects and less than stellar attention span, I like to take on projects. I might have mentioned before that starting things has more appeal to me than doing, and for that matter, finishing the thing.

So I learn to trick myself. It seems to work for a while but my brain eventually catches on. Often, before I can get any decent work done.

I try harder and yesterday I tried my very hardest.

I have been wanting to bike to the Old Port for many summers now. It's about 15 to 20 kilometers from my house. I, obviously, never got around to it. But then I got a new bike. It's grey-blue and beautiful and just my size. I longed to take my bike out on a really long ride.

I decided to bike to my office. While it's not the Old Port it's still about 15 kilometers away and there's a hill. And so that morning, clad in work-out clothes with an extra outfit tucked neatly into my backpack (along with a small towel, deodorant and a brush - I do plan ahead) I set out.

I discovered a few things. The first being that I am crazy. I hadn't biked any further than the library all summer and here I was taking on 15K. The second, and probably more important thing, I can accomplish anything if I have absolutely no way of getting out of it.

If I got tired at 9 or 12 K what was I supposed to do? Abandon my bike and walk? Go back? Clearly I gave myself no option but to press on. And I did, by stopping to drink frequently and overcoming the burning in my thighs I arrived at my office only 15 minutes past my usual time and I was triumphant! Albeit sweaty.

I considered not going back the same way, but I knew my quest would not be complete until I had gone there and back again. That's how quests work.

So back I went with the wind blowing full in my face and my legs discovering a whole new level of burn.

I now know what it takes for me to reach any goal: I have to tap into my inner evil genius and give myself no way out. Now if only I could apply this principle successfully to my studies ... just think of what I could achieve.